Photo Flash: First Look at Folger Theatre's SAINT JOAN

Folger Theatre concludes its 2017/18 season with a special engagement of George Bernard Shaw's epic portrait of Saint Joan, presented by the acclaimed New York-based Bedlam theater company. Saint Joan will be directed by Bedlam's Artistic Director Eric Tucker (the award-winning director of Sense and Sensibility at Folger Theatre) and features a cast of four, including Tucker, playing over 25 parts. Aundria Brown is the martyred heroine of France, Joan of Arc.

Recently extended due to popular demand, Saint Joan is now scheduled for 36 performances, from May 12 through June 10, 2018. Tickets are available online at www.folger.edu/theatre or by calling the Folger Box Office at (202) 544-7077.

Saint Joan will also have onstage seating which will enhance the immersive environment of this production.

Joan of Arc, from peasant stock, fights for her country and defeats the English at Orleans. She is captured and taken prisoner in Burgundy, brought before a church court, tried as a heretic, and burned at the stake-all before the age of nineteen. Depicted as neither witch, saint, nor madwoman in Shaw's retelling, Joan is but an illiterate farm girl whose focus on the individual rocks the church and state.

Bedlam, founded in 2012 by Tucker and Andrus Nichols, has been lauded for its boldly theatrical, stripped-down, and immersive re-imaginings of classic plays. the company is committed to the immediacy of the relationship between the actor and the audience, creating works of theater that reinvigorate traditional forms using innovative staging, minimal props, and boundless energy. Bedlam's staging of Saint Joan was honored as a Top Ten Play by Time magazine, and listed in The New York Times' Best of Theater list.

"I'm very excited to bring Bedlam's production of Saint Joan to the Folger and to D.C. audiences," says Eric Tucker. "My vision for the piece has always been to stay out of the way of George Bernard Shaw's brilliant text by maintaining a very simple aesthetic in a simple playing space, using only four actors. There's nothing fancy about this production. It's as clear and passionate and committed a production as you're likely to see of this riveting play."

This staging of Saint Joan features Eric Tucker and Edmund Lewis, cast members from Bedlam's original New York productions. Aundria Brown and Sam Massaro, newcomers to Bedlam's Saint Joan and part of Bedlam's current national tour, complete the cast.

The lighting design is by Les Dickert (Bedlam's Hamlet, Sense and Sensibility, and earlier this year, Pygmalion), with costume and sound design by Eric Tucker.

"We are delighted to bring Eric Tucker back to the Folger," Janet Alexander Griffin, Folger Theatre's Artistic Producer, says. "As he showed with his inspired staging of Sense and Sensibility, Eric brings a wholly innovative perspective and great energy to classic works. His approach to Shaw is breathtaking."

Ticketing Information & Performance Dates:

Saint Joan is on stage at Folger Theatre from May 12 through June 10, 2018. Tickets are
$30-$79. Discounted preview performances and special rates for patrons under 30, students, seniors, members and family of the military, educators, and groups may be purchased through the Folger Theatre Box Office at (202) 544-7077 or online at www.folger.edu/theatre.

Photo Credit: Teresa Wood

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